Beautiful and abundant.

He gave us eyes to see them and lips that we might tell how Great is God Almighty who has made all things well.TIS 135
I was taken by the hedge of lavender that lines my front path. This year it has been exceptionally beautiful and abundant and has given delight to many who pass by. Its been a work place for the bees and countless varieties of butterflies and as always I am drawn to thoughts of God and his abundant variety of creation given for our pure delight. I read this Irish Blessing recently:
May flowers always line your path and sunshine light your day. May songbirds serenade you every step of the way. May a  rainbow run beside you in the sky that's always blue . And may happiness fill your heart each day your whole life through.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne,servant of the Lord.

Hug a tree!

But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the steadfast love of God. Ps 52:8
  I have always loved trees. They speak to us, they show us their glory, their beauty,their gracefulness. They give shade from the hot sun, shelter for the birds to nest and a bounty of colour and new growth and they stand tall and steadfast,. There is so much we can 'read' in a tree if we see it as it is, a creation of our God.  I like what  Joyce Kilmer wrote:' I think I shall never see a poem as lovely as a tree. A tree whose mouth is prest against the earth's sweet flowing breast; a tree that looks at God all day and lifts her leafy arms to pray.' There is nothing more affirming of the presence of God if we see him in creation and creation as his. Perhaps today is the day to 'hug' a tree!
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord

Hundreds of little parachutes

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. TIS 768
 I am seeing the lawns around homes being mowed and tidied and manicured as spring settles in and they all look lovely but for me I love to see the Cape Weed in its thousands  with its bright yellow flowers and its centered black dot 'smiling' in the sunshine with memories of making daisy chains. I love the native Blue Bell flowering in the front garden and on the edges of the road and the 'pin cushion' look of the dandelion waiting for a breeze or a child to pass by and blow its hundreds of  little 'parachutes,' its fairy down, into the air and I say thank you God for everything that brings a resounding yes from deep in my soul.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ,
Anne, servant of the Lord.

Floral memories

Behold the beauty of the Lord. Psalm 27:4

The treasures of spring are truly something to behold and  I find a real lasting impression in spring that stays with me through my life. Yesterday I smelt the wisteria and everywhere I go that its out I have to smell its glorious deep fragrance because the minute I do I am transported back to my childhood where I am playing in the garden. Like wise with the bearded  Iris, there are so many beautiful colours but the perfume takes me back to my childhood among the ladies 'doing' the flowers for Sunday church and I whisper  just a few words of thanks to God ans I breath them in. As long as we stop to smell the flowers, we have memories, childhood memories. God memories.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning said. 'Earth's crammed with heaven and every common bush afire with God.'
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anne'servant of the Lord

the very edge of your soul

 And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden. Gen 2:8
I took a group of ladies from my ministry out to the Tulip Tops Gardens to experience the ambiance, the beauty, the quiet and the sheer delight of the spring gardens. The day was warm with a real sense of spring about it and we had our picnic among the blooms of colourful tulips and other glorious flowers and blossom trees. Everywhere was God's. His work of creation, colour and beauty.Then  came into  my mind were the words I love : ' I said to the almond tree: Speak to me of God' and the almond tree blossomed......
Audra Foveo said: If you have never been thrilled to the very edge of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord

seeing the expected and the unexpected

For nothing is hidden that will not be disclosed. Luke 8:16

It's the time of the year when the garden is coming into its best as the spring flowers start bursting their full buds, those  unknown pockets of beautiful colour and perfection that are a mystery to us until they shed the skin of their bud. Then there is the promise of great expectations in the vegetable garden as we watch the vegies grow from seed to sustaining food. Among it all I see some mysterious plants that I know I didn't plant, they are long and scrawny but their bud cluster bursts into beautiful tiny cornflower blue flowers. A weed yes, no doubt from the seed fallen from the bird feeding tray but so dainty and emanating pleasure. I understand the meaning of Thomas Jefferson words when he says: 'There is not a sprig of grass that shoots uninteresting to me.' Seeing the expected and the unexpected' in everyday life and gaining such joy from it has to surely be a 'God thing.'
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anne, servant of the Lord.

pack peaches or grow an orchard.

Psalm 16: You will show me the path of life, the fullness of joy in your presence.
 Sometimes the people I work among in daily ministry have no hope. They see no purpose in their lives and often struggle to just exist. I love this thought by John Gardner: When people are serving life is no longer meaningless. We can see more in our lives than what it seems.Its like this: some people spend their day sorting peaches or cutting out pockets for pants and they do this all their lives and never feel the exhilarating sense of creativity that comes from within such as 'growing  an orchard' or 'designing a suit.' The meaning and the blessings that accompany our life come not from achievement but from what we do for others out of how we live. Gardner goes on to say if we are lovers of beauty, then beauty will fill all our days and if we are committed to justice, then justice will drive us even past fatigue. My prayer is that we all see more in our lives than what it seems to be.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anne, servant of the Lord

The bird dose not  just build a nest but makes it a home.

a special place called home.

Let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. Romans 14:19
It can be a busy, bustling world in the hours of work, and home is often the place for retreat. I find as I get older that this place of retreat is something I look forward too more and more. Its a place of peace and quiet and presence where the voices and rush  of the day leave me as I open the gate,
and the stars at night and the sunsets and sunrises are crystal clear and unaffected by city lights.Three years ago I decided to find myself a new home - one on the very edge of community where I can live in silence in the presence of God and every day as I go walking I look for him in this place and find him everywhere.When I open the back door the  morning delight is full of pleasure as the perfume of the sweet peas ( and I quote Mary Oliver) 'sends its perfume to me on a gentle breeze and I go to it for a deeper, fuller experience and its called heavenly and something inside me melts and awakens'. There is something about home, retreat, and silence combined with sweet perfume and the early morning warble of magpies and the twittering of blue wrens and I know what it is. Its the presence of God.
Where is your quiet place of retreat?  Where do you go to experience the fuller, greater love of God?
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord.

good balance

To you, O God, I lift my soul. I trust in you....relieve the distress of my heart. Psalm 25
Sometimes I disrepair at the pace of life.That instant response that comes with it like emails that require an immediate response or phones that are forever with us and are answered the minute it rings regardless of where we are or what we are doing. The pace of life seems to be getting increasingly faster and faster so how do we avoid the stress it can create, that puts our right mindedness out of balance? I like this story: Once upon a time, two thieves were undergoing a trial by ordeal. If they could walk a wire over a gorge, they would be considered innocent and would be spared. If however they failed to cross the gorge the belief was they had been executed by the gods for their guilt. The first thief was successful and reached the other side. The second thief was terrified and called out. 'How did you do that?' I don't know' came the voice from the other side. All I know is that when I felt myself tottering to one side I leaned to the other.'A trusting heart is what enables us to lean to the left when life tilts us to the right. Its called balance  (Joan Chittister  Songs of the Heart)and isn't that what we need in life, a good balance in all things. May we always have God in our sights so we get a good balance in life.

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord

Love without end.

I love you O Lord, my strength Ps 18:1
Where  does your love lie? Can you count your many loves? I start but somehow they seem to have no end: The early morning rising to catch the quiet and the first bird calls
 The 'smells' of spring. The 'look' of spring. (Just go for a moment and look O so close into a beautiful flower, look hard into its creation.)
 The old dog looking for a walk. That's one of her loves!
The quiet spot to go  and be.
The tiny blue wren looking at me through the window as I sit at my desk, singing its little heart out.
The anticipation of what the day holds for me as I serve my greatest love, My Lord Jesus Christ.
These are loves that cause me to feel there is almost no space between me and God. Loves that give me pleasure in the everyday detail. Annie Dillard says: I love with a keen, clear love. A love that wells up as I stand rooted in the now. Moments when I feel centered and grounded.Moments thanking God for everything from good simple food to the gentle breeze,to a shooting star across a clear summer night sky.
Van Gogh adds:   I always think the best way to know God is to love many things.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord

A quiet spot to go and be.

listen and God speaks

A time to keep silence and a time to speak. Eccl 3:7
Listening, intently listening.
Sometimes I listen deeply, so deeply that the silence is loud. So deeply that out of the silence comes a still small voice or more profound, a beautiful, richly coloured bird lands within  inches of my sight, and God speaks.  I was sitting on my front porch just sitting in the quiet with God and the beautiful Crimson Rosella came with his partner, as they do each spring, and checked out their nesting place, They stood on the fence and just looked at me ad I at them, and God spoke.
Mother Teresa said: ' God is the friend of silence. See how nature, trees, flowers, grass all grow in silence'
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anne, servant of the Lord

A lovely sort of wild place

The Lord satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things. Psalm 107:8-9
I was deep in thought  in a lovely sort of wild place beside a pond thanking God for the many blessings of the morning in this quiet place. My intent was to just sit and listen to the silence but God came by, into the silence and showered me with many morning, everlasting blessings.ending with the O so beautiful song after song that came forth from the honey filled blooms of the Japonica bush of the lovely orange breasted Rufus Whistler, so busy in her own happiness and my heart melted as I thanked God for his creation filled with pockets of  holy places, such beauty and joy for our delight.
Sit, be still and wait for the Lord to come by and O the blessings.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anne, servant of the Lord.

for the love of feathered friends

All creatures of our God and King, lift up your voice and with us sing. TIS 100

We all seem to have a special bird that is meaningful to us. Some love the kookaburra whose song brings out of us  a laugh that spills out from  deep within us. Others will spot the call of the Rufus whistler sporting his orange chest among the honey filled spring flowers, others will simply 'melt' within at the glorious song of the blackbird at the break of day and as for the sparrow, Mary Oliver says: 'Of course I love the sparrow, those dun coloured darlings.'These are all 'God moments.' Need I say for me its the blue wren and when I think of them singing I ask myself  is it prayer? What could it be if it isn't? so I just listen,with thoughts of God and am blessed.
Don't miss the unmissable God moments in your day. They are so precious.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anne, servant of the Lord

take time in his presence

My Lord and my God. John 20:28
The chorus of frogs in the pond of which I know not one from the other, is unbelievable and how do they all manage to sing in such  harmony and in tune. What a delightful sound and rising above it, or is it in chorus with it, is the beautiful call of a tiny bird I am yet to identify. I think of all God's creation. All identified and known to him personally. You, me, the frogs, the tiny bird, he has put his mark and his name on it all and how special, how very special to know that he knows each and every one of all his creation by name.
I love this morning blessing: May you take time in his presence so you will remember how strong and mighty he is. And may your day be filled with sacred moments that remind you just how precious you are to him.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord.

Only God can do that

All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord Psalm 145:10
Spring just throws up so many thoughts in your mind, and its just around the corner. I look at the bare tree outside my office window and its literally bursting its buds to push out the new leaves and the prunus in the back yard is displaying gorgeous little pink blossoms like a hundred young girls in tulle dancing dress and just a step out the back door the air is filled with strong violet and Daphne fragrance. The first words that fall from my lips are 'O God how glorious, how wondrous are your works.'  Somehow, having seen a shrub or tree empty or bare of any visible life and then to see it slowly open up into its glory is indeed a miracle. Its beauty in brokenness and life from death. You cant make the bare tree blossom, I cant make the bare tree blossom only God can do that. Only God can bring in new life..

Flowering Japonica.

One little duck went out one day..

 The Lord bless you and keep you. Numbers  6:24

Quietly sitting by a pond that's totally undisturbed by any visible signs of life other than a few water grasses and a bent willow tree when out of that island growth comes a lovely duck, his feathers iridescent green as the rising sun catches him. He paddles silently, smoothly across the water leaving a perfect arrow shaped wake behind him and all to the call of the wrens busily searching for breakfast for the young ones. Amazing things are revealed in silence and my inside was filled with happiness yet there was only the pond, the ducks and me.
Mary Oliver says: Instructions for living life are:. Pay attention, be astonished, and tell about it . For truly the body needs a song.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord.

Ah, now I see.

Blessed assurance Jesus is mine, O what a foretaste of Glory divine. (Hymn)
The first morning of the retreat I was looking out of my window on the third floor and fixed my eyes on a clump of flowering violets under a beautiful bright yellow wattle tree. There is something about  little flowers that grow under a tree and I couldn't place why it is so special a 'something.' And then a thought comes, a God planted thought which says, 'I am your God, over and above you, I am your shelter, your protector, come and be under my everlasting protection.'  It was a God thought that made me glow inside. It is indeed in the stillness and quiet that God speaks.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord.

Look and see......and live!

My soul thirsts for God,for the living God Psalm 42:2
The glory of the Lord shines through so much of what we see around us. Its there in  almost every place I look especially as the signs of spring are coming.  I recall a time when a new lady came to church and she was just 'aglow' with every aspect of her worship,- engaging, enjoying and so touched. It was so encouraging to see and then I think of the  nights when the moon has been high in the sky, shining,magnificent, full, a true light in the darkness, a presence of God. It is so powerful that we can meet God in all things. I recall on one of my outback holidays, standing on a sandstone cliff face in the desert and looking God in the face with all I saw before me.
I like this blessing of welcome (Iona Community) May you meet God in every place, in every person and in the depths of your own heart.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anne, servant of the Lord

Breakaways, Coober Pedy.

a flower grows inside me

Teach us to count our days so that we may gain a wise heart. Psalm 90:12
I was looking at the Fuchsia in the garden, dormant, almost dead looking but then I saw tiny buds of life as new leaves were forming and I marveled at the fact that within a short space of time these leaves would be flourishing and green but what was more profound was the thought that from the very center of this creation flowers were forming ready to burst forth into new life when their time has come, turning something ordinary into something special and its all happening in the silence of the garden. I love silence. Things happen and grow and develop in silence, within the heart, the mind and the spirit. Its probably the next best thing to early morning walks where the silence is everywhere and in it you can hear and learn so much that has the potential to bring you life, turn your day into something lovely and beautiful. I like what Marion  von Waldner writes: 'From the center of my soul, a flower grows inside me, a love that makes me whole, a budding love that sets me free.'

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord

Lord, keep me awake

May the Lord bless his people with peace. Psalm 29:11
There is something magical about the daylight pushing the night out of the way with a blaze of colour and there is something magical about the birds waking up one by one and adding chorus to the colour and its all backed by the rhythmic  squeaks, pips,  and croaks of the frogs on the pond. And while I walked I thought of the words of my 4 year old grandson yesterday when I said we would pray and thank God for the food he has given us  and he looked at me with big open eyes and laughing,without hesitation said, No 'Nan, God didn't give us the food, Mummy and I got it from the shop!' Isn't it just wonderful that every day is a message and a blessing from God.
A Lawson says: Always keep an ear bent towards heaven.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord.